There are many factors to consider before designing a food court.
A suburban shopping center may require a design change to a smaller mall within the CBD. Most foot-traffic occurs between 12-2pm. The shape and location of the food court, as well as its surrounding areas, will have an impact on the size and shape of the building.
Size of a food court can be delineated using two key elements. They are the ratio of the available space in the building and the area to which it is located. You should consider other non-quantifiable variables that will impact the project. For example, planned expansions and mix variations. The retail industry is experiencing significant losses in its trading revenues and store area. As a result, young women’s clothing is quickly losing space to online sales. Entertainment and hospitality are other options to fill the gaps.
The location of a food court. You can spend some time at airports waiting for your flight, or arriving. After walking for several miles from the car park and checking the arrivals/departures screens, customers typically wander around, passing traditional book shops, souvenir shops, and gift and souvenir stores before finally stopping at the gate. Food courts have a higher number of customers than traditional retail shops. They also offer seating. Therefore, it is not wise to position it in front or the departure/arrivals gates. Customers would then be diverted from the other shops. Rentals would be decreased and revenue would suffer. It would certainly cause congestion in key areas. A transportation hub can help with security, air conditioning balance, comfort transit and other issues. The same rules apply to malls. However, the biggest difference is that customers rarely have two main destinations.
Forms: Square, crescent and cul-de–sac. You’ve likely seen food courts of many shapes and sizes. Although it can be more cost-effective for the developer, the typical “corridor”, which has services lined on both ends, is not attractive to customers or operators. The concentration of services will reduce installation and maintenance costs. However, this can backfire on the developer when they need to adapt to accommodate a new operator. Cul de sac can reduce installation costs but does not allow for expansion. While the square is large and flexible, it can be difficult to clean and expensive to put in, but modifications are easier.
In recent years, as more buildings have been adapted to become food courts and malls, we noticed the rise of food court clusters. Sometimes, because of technical restrictions or incapacity of buildings to hold large numbers of people in a single location, clusters have a little charm. They don’t appear as busy as large areas and are less noisy. A good mix of operators can bring together customers with similar interests, creating a more “personalized” and friendly environment.
Another golden rule to follow is to keep your food court layout as simple as you can. However, avoid complicated shapes that could make interaction and crossing services difficult. It is important to keep the basic structure of the food courts simple so that the project flows naturally.
